365 days of women kicking ass

In that old industry speak of ‘looking back to look forward’, and in honour of International Women’s Day, we’ve rounded up some of our PG folk and pulled together the following list of inspirational, motivating, and quite frankly kick-ass moments from the past 12 months, that have got us talking, reflecting, and clapping excitedly with glee!

Women breaking the box office…

“I loved seeing the new ‘Wonder Woman’ movie make history as the highest-grossing superhero origin movie of all time. Patty Jenkins’ female-led action blockbuster showed what women can do and hopefully will help to break down Hollywood barriers to success for women. The empowerment behind the success of this movie for me outweighs whether or not Wonder Woman shaved her armpits (there was a big debate when the movie was released)” – Sophie Taylor, Digital Senior Account Manager

And bringing issues to the small screen..

“From an entertainment perspective, one of the most powerful (and empowering) drama debuts of 2017 has to be the Handmaid’s Tale. Since hitting our screens last May it brought women’s rights to the fore, and inadvertently drew many parallels to the ‘Times Up’ movement which was just around the corner. Roll on season two in April…” Lucy Porter, Head of Planning & Innovation

Women speaking up, for themselves and other women…

“It might seem like the obvious choice, but the #MeToo movement and the Time’s Up initiative has felt like a huge (and much, MUCH needed) shift in finally shining a light on the respect (or lack thereof), treatment, and abuse of women’s bodies that goes on in every walk of life. The fact that so many girls and women have felt empowered to spark this conversation is necessary, beyond inspiring, and an absolute force to be reckoned with.” Tania Burnham, Account Executive

“I loved Halsey’s speech you see, because her words didn’t just echo with me. They echoed with thousands of women, young and old, who after so long hiding can share their stories untold.” Emma Wills, Senior Account Manager

“When the contestants of the Miss Peru pageant took to the stage and replaced their bust, hip and waist measurements with national female gender violence statistics the world was forced to take notice. Turning the stereotype of ‘beauty queen’ on its head, it was a sobering protest led by powerful women shining the spotlight on a previously ignored subject. “My name is Camila Canicoba. My measurements are: 2,202 cases of femicide reported in the last nine years in my country”. Nic Hunter, Studio Manager

And women speaking up in general..

“Not that she was fighting for a female cause at the time, but Emma Gonzalez speaking out on gun control following the Florida shootings, was a shining example of a kick ass female.” Jo Hudson, Planning Director

Running women…

“For me women’s sport took a whole new level in 2017. Participation is at an all time high due to the huge increase in media coverage and awareness of women’s sport; the introduction of new, professionally-organised events across football, hockey, netball and rugby union; and the success of recent major international tournaments hosted on UK soil such as the 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which sold-out three games (a record for an international women’s cricket tournament) including the final – icing on the cake was that the England Women’s team won! Long may this upward trend continue.” Ben Davies, Account Executive

And women on the run, in a different way….

“I think one of the best things to see from last year was the She Should Run campaign in the US! According to the campaign results more than 35,000 women reached out to put themselves forward for running for office at local, state and federal levels last year which was amazing! The same campaign also announced an incentive to achieve gender equality amongst America’s elected officials by the year 2030. This whole campaign really highlighted how I think a lot of women are finally feeling: that we can do whatever we set our minds to and there shouldn’t be anything blocking those goals.“ Camilla Mosley, Account Executive

Which leads us swifty onto just leaving this here…

#OPRAHFORPRESIDENT

By no means exhaustive, these are just a few of the things that women have been doing to speak out and build a momentum for equality, recognition, and empowerment across the globe in the past year.

Whilst reflection can be positive, there’s no denying there is a great deal of work to be done to address the problems that we’ve seen gain more attention than ever in the past year. From the gender pay gap, to the treatment that sparked #MeToo, there’s a long way to go before true equality is achieved. That said, we have absolutely no doubt that we’ll be back here next year reporting on even more amazing work by women, for women, and ultimately for all.

Until then, we’ll be taking a leaf out of Frances McDormand’s book at The Oscars, building each other up and celebrating each other, warts and all. Onwards!